“During high temperatures, pigs can’t lose much heat from their skin because their skin is nearly the same temperature as the air around them,” he says. “Evaporation becomes very important because it’s the evaporation that cools pigs, not the wetting, and using air movement helps accelerate the evaporation so cooling is more effective.”

Harmon, who also is a professor and livestock housing specialist in agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State University (ISU), says that if cycle times on sprinklers are changed, they should shorten the time between sprinkling.

“It doesn’t take any longer to wet a pig in the heat versus at cooler temperatures, but the goal is to let pigs dry between cycles and then rewet,” he says. “This allows evaporation to take place.”

In addition, maintaining summer ventilation levels in buildings is very important. Harmon reminds producers to check fan belts and maintain fans on a regular basis.